xii CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



in the beliefs which obtained in i860. It is now 

 acknowledc^ed that the age of a stag cannot be 

 correctly or even approximately judged by the 

 number of points on his head. As for the theory 

 that an injury to the testes is reproduced in a stag's 

 antlers, and on the same side as that where the 

 original wound was inflicted, this has been 

 frequently disproved after careful examination. 



As is shown by the pages that follow these few 

 prefatory observations, the Hunt, which has in our 

 times of widely diffused information almost come 

 to be regarded as a national institution, was only 

 emerging from days of darkness when the author 

 commenced his work. To rescue it from its mori- 

 bund condition a strenuous and united effort had 

 been needed ; and the loyalty with which the 

 labour was achieved was beyond all praise. The 

 foremost place in this scene of the Devon and 

 Somerset Hunt history is occupied by the striking 

 personality of Mr. Mordaunt Fenwick Bisset, who 

 died in 1884, having retired in 1882 from the 

 mastership. If it were attempted to enumerate all 

 the enthusiastic supporters of Mr. Bisset when he 

 was winning his fight against apathy and lawless- 

 ness, the list would assume formidable proportions, 

 and after all perhaps be incomplete. Many are 



